


The Stable Boy of the Apocalypse

by Takara_Phoenix



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Death!Nico, Dorks in Love, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Nicercy - Freeform, Pining, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:33:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24521668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Takara_Phoenix/pseuds/Takara_Phoenix
Summary: Everyone knows the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. No one ever asks about their stable boy and what it's like taking care of the Horses of the Apocalypse. And no one ever asks the stable boy what it's like to be hopelessly in love with Death...
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Percy Jackson
Comments: 21
Kudos: 638
Collections: Astral_Phoenix108's Library





	The Stable Boy of the Apocalypse

Nicercy || PJatO || Nicercy || The Stable Boy of the Apocalypse || Nicercy || PJatO || Nicercy

Title: The Stable Boy of the Apocalypse – Death's Little Obsession

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus

Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Rick Riordan. Aside from the Gods, they belong to the old Greeks. This fanfiction and its OCs on the other hand are entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Tags: m/m, supernatural AU, gods/deities, pining

Main Pairing: Nico/Percy

Percy Jackson Characters: Perseus Jackson, Nico di Angelo, Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Blackjack, Arion, Guido, Scipio

Summary: Everyone knows the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. No one ever asks about their stable boy and what it's like taking care of the Horses of the Apocalypse. And no one ever asks the stable boy what it's like to be hopelessly in love with Death...

**The Stable Boy of the Apocalypse**

_Death's Little Obsession_

Everyone always only spoke of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They were the big deal, the feared and famed names. Everyone trembled before them, the humans cowered in anticipation for their return. Naturally, the most prominent feature of the _Horse_ men were the implied horses.

Now, who did people think took care of those? Surely not the Horsemen themselves. War was too busy for these kind of things. Pestilence was not very liked by creatures that could get sick. Famine was kind of an asshole so the horses didn't like him much. And Death didn't get along well with the living. No, none of them took care of their own horses. That was what the stable boy was for.

Perseus, or Percy as he preferred to be called, was the immortal stable boy of the apocalypse.

Percy was the son of the God of Horses, which qualified him for the job because he could actually _talk_ to horses, they understood him and listened to him. Being a minor god himself, Percy happily took the job because it gave him his own responsibility, outside of his parents' shadows.

And Percy, he loved the job. Loved the horses, the place – working for the Horsemen meant living at their place, the great palace at the top of the mountain, while all the minor gods lived in places on the mountain going down. The lower one lived, the lower-ranking the deity was. With one very obvious exception. Death lived beneath the mountain, in the underworld.

Death was Percy's weakness. Like most deities, Death had a name, though to humans his name was long forgotten. Percy, being a god himself, knew of course. Nico of the Angels. He wore that title because, well, he was the leader of the Death Angels who accompanied souls to the underworld.

He was also the hottest piece of ass on Mount Apocalypse. At least if one was to ask Percy's opinion. The guy wore skin-tight leather pants like they were painted on and how that leather coat hugged his arms and torso made Percy fan himself. Death was _hot_.

The problem was that Death was also _totally_ out of Percy's league. Percy, he was just a minor god. He was literally the stable boy. And while absolutely nothing would be running without him – because those horses were not going to take care of themselves and the Horsemen would look pretty foolish without said horses – he was still by far not on the Horsemen's radar, not _like this_.

But he could live with this. This was fine.

/break\

"Who's spying on the stable boy again?"

Nico glowered and turned toward his best friend. War. Well, he knew her better as Reyna. She was polishing her sword, smirking to herself and not looking at him. The two had always been close – and it made sense, for War and Death wend hand in hand. There was no War without Death.

"I love when he plays with the horses. It's so...", started Nico.

"Adorable. The word you seem to not know is adorable", supplied Reyna.

"Just, look at him feeding Blackjack doughnuts", muttered Nico frustrated.

He motioned outside and Reyna finally got up to walk over to him. Both looked out of the window where Percy was with some of the horses, playing tricks with them and laughing.

"He is so...", sighed Nico softly, leaning forward.

"He got a cute ass", agreed Reyna thoughtfully, tilting her head.

"It's more than that!", exclaimed Nico offended.

"Implying that it's _also_ that", noted Reyna amused.

"I mean, I'm neither an idiot nor blind", huffed Nico. "But... look at him. He's so _kind_ and _understanding_ and _sweet_. I've never met a more gentle soul than him..."

"He is", agreed Reyna slowly. "Scipio _adores_ him and that horse is very picky. He really was a lucky catch for us. Between you, me, Pestilence and Famine... none of us are good with animals."

That was true. At first, the four of them had tried to tend their own horses, but their horses didn't _really_ like them and it got disastrous, which was ironic considering that _they_ were supposed to be the disasters. The literal disasters brought upon humankind, bringing the apocalypse (eventually).

And then Perseus had stepped into their lives. It had been fate, truly. One of the horses (Pestilence's, naturally) was sick (again) and they had called upon the God of Horses himself, after all he was the one who had created all horses. However, even _he_ was kind of exhausted at that point, so he had sent in his son Perseus. Of recent fame for creating such horse-spin-offs like unicorns and pegasi. That had absolutely amazed Nico when he had first met Percy. He was... He was _creative_. He wanted to do his own thing. And Nico, he _kind of_ liked those ideas. A weaponized horse? Having a sharp harpoon on their heads to pierce the hearts of their enemies? Amazing!

Nico loved that inventiveness. He, his job was death and there was nothing really to improve on death, aside from the _method_ of death (like, say, people being impaled by weaponized horses).

So, yes, the weaponized horses had first caught Nico's attention, then the gentleness that Percy displayed with the horses. He wasn't just gentle and soft though; he was _tough_. When he noticed Pestilence being rude to his horse, Percy dished out some ass-whooping. That was when Nico first felt himself falling for Percy, because _wow_. The pretty green-eyed Horse Deity was actually also pretty kick-ass and no one was stupid enough to try and defy him afterward.

"He is... overwhelming", whispered Nico softly.

"He sure is", agreed Reyna. "But you do know that people also say that about you, right? You are Death, a Horseman of the Apocalypse, the king of the underworld and leader of the Death Angels."

Nico furrowed his brows at that. He guessed that she was right. Still, he was Death and he was... alone. He had never had anyone at his side. Reyna was dating a minor Storm God, Jason. Even Octavian, Famine, had someone he loved. Nico, he was awkward about it. He had been alone with the dead for so long and he liked to use his work as an excuse as to _why_ he wasn't dating.

"You should just talk to him, you know", suggested Reyna with a sigh.

/break\

Blackjack was Percy's favorite. Death's horse was the best, he was adorable and fun to talk to. Arion was a big irritating at times. Scipio was kind of stuck-up. Guido was the only reasonable one. All four of them did respect Percy though and most of the other horses, they were far easier to handle than the horses of the apocalypse. Percy laughed softly as Tempest nudged him.

"Hey, hey. Wait your turn, storm-bringer", huffed Percy amused, pushing Tempest out of the way.

" _Yes, it's my turn and I want my apples before he gets distracted by Death again_ ", grunted Guido.

Percy glared pointedly at Guido and deliberately approached Arion and Scipio to hand out treats to them instead, sticking his tongue out at Guido. Tempest, he belonged to War's boyfriend though and Percy made an exception in also taking care of him. Blackjack whined and licked Percy's cheek.

" _You should ask the Boss out, Percy_ ", stated Blackjack. " _He is far too serious. Needs to light up_."

"What. No. Don't be silly, I can't do that", hissed Percy embarrassed, flustered.

He patted Blackjack's flank and then went to feed Guido. Scipio whined and nudged him softly, while Arion and Tempest butted heads. Quite literally. Thankfully, neither was a unicorn though. Percy smiled as he ran his fingers through Tempest's cloud-mane. He had a certain link to weather and storms too, so this one spoke to him. Blackjack however – he was a pegasus, a creation of Percy's, so naturally he remained Percy's favorite.

" _Why can't you_?", asked Tempest confused. " _You like him. He likes you. It's a bit harder between two stallions, of course. But one of you has to start prancing and grooming and if the other-_ "

"That's enough! I know how that works! Please don't make me imagine it!", exclaimed Percy.

"What horrid things are the horses making you imagine?"

Percy startled and turned toward Death. Nico. Mh, he looked so very handsome today. Like always.

" _We are simply trying to teach him how to court you properly_ ", argued Arion annoyed.

" _Shush it, the boy is just shy_ ", offered Scipio dismissively. " _Though I see no reason for it_."

"I'm so glad I'm the only one who understands you guys", muttered Percy lowly.

"I... have...", started Nico and cleared his throat. "I made pomegranate cupcakes with mother last weekend and... I brought you some, I thought you may perhaps... enjoy some..."

Percy blinked a couple of times as he accepted the cupcakes from Nico. They smelt good. Sniffing them, he leaned in closer. Delicious. When he straightened up again, Nico was blushing at him.

"Y... You... You have...", muttered Nico, motioning at his nose, cheeks pink.

Percy stuck his tongue out to reach the tip of his nose, eyes crossing to try and see the pink cream, just to hear... laughter. Blinking, Percy concentrated on Nico again to see him laugh softly.

"You're so cute", managed Nico to say between his laughter.

"...C... Cute", echoed Percy surprised.

Nico immediately stopped laughing and looked at Percy in terrified realization. Cute. Death himself who came to collect the souls of _everyone_ , as brutal the slaughter and as nasty the people whose souls he gathered were, Percy was pretty sure he had _never_ seen Nico as terrified as he looked right now. Was it _really_ that terrifying to call Percy cute? Or wait, was this...

"Are... Are you... Do you _like_ me?", asked Percy softly. "And are you _nervous_ about... telling _me_ that you like me? You're _Death_. How are you nervous about telling the _stable boy_ you like him?"

"You're amazing!", argued Nico, looking genuinely offended on Percy's behalf. "You're beautiful, kind, strong, you are the Lord of Beasts, you created such magnificent creatures as Blackjack! Everyone _adores_ you, you have so many friends. I'm... an awkward loner, who tries to avoid anyone who isn't a Horseman. I just... I don't know how to _talk_ to people, especially not _popular_ or _kind_ people. That's even harder... I just... Yes, I like you."

Percy's face brightened and he shoved the horses out of the way (all of them snickering at Nico's awkward confession. How dare they, this was adorable!). Smiling, Percy wrapped his arms around Death's shoulders and pulled him close enough to kiss him very softly.

"I like you too", whispered Percy amused.

"Really? Are you sure? _Me_?", asked Nico startled, blinking a couple of times.

Percy pecked Nico's cheek. Being the stable boy of the apocalypse sure was a rewarding job.

_~*~ The End ~*~_

**Author's Note:**

> So I was thinking about the Horsemen of the Apocalypse and I wondered if they were all taking care of their own horses, as you do when thinking about the apocalypse. And then I thought "Hey, Nico would make a great Death! And Reyna, his best friend, as War!" and then I figured "Percy would make a cute stable boy. That could be fun" sooo here we are! xD
> 
> And if the beginning seems familiar, that's because I did post a sneak peek on tumblr (come visit me at [takaraphoenix](https://takaraphoenix.tumblr.com/)). ;)


End file.
